Kitty Shiva Rao (born 12 December 1903 – died 9 February 1980), was a Montessori teacher and

theosophist Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neo ...

from Austria who, by

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

, had led a committee of women to draft an ''Indian Women's Charter of Rights and Duties'' for the new

constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

. She studied child education and served on several women's movement and education boards including the

All India Women's Conference The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation ( NGO) based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tack ...

(AIWC),

All India Handicrafts Board The All India Handicrafts Board (AIHB), was an organisation in India established in 1952, which aimed to advise the Ministry of Textiles on development programmes for handicrafts. Its early key figures included Pupul Jayakar, Kamaladevi Chattopad ...

, Indian Council for Child Welfare and

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

Board. Born into an upper middle-class Jewish family, Shiva Rao spent her early career at the Vienna House of Children. In 1925, she attended the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

at Adyar, India, and decided to stay and head a Montessori school in

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

, before then establishing a Montessori in

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

. In 1929, she married the journalist and Congress politician Benegal Shiva Rao. In 1947, with Fori Nehru, she helped set up the Refugee Handicrafts employment campaign in Delhi for refugee women in the camps following the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. Later, she co-founded a national programme for the development of

handicrafts A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

and handloom products, and continued to promote Indian made crafts later in her career.

Early life

Kitty Verständig was born in 1903 to Abraham Verständig and Jenny Lowy, an upper middle-class Jewish family. She studied

Montessori education The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

. In her early career she taught at the Vienna House of Children, a Montessori school, and attended the

Career

1920s-30s

In 1925, after attending the 50th anniversary of the

at Adyar,

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, she decided not to return to Austria, and stayed on to become associated with the Indian education system, beginning with head of a Montessori school in

. In 1927 she required assistance in establishing a Montessori school in

and invited her friend, . There, both women mingled among the elite Nehru family. Herbatschek stayed for two-years and taught Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter Indira, and was assisted by his sister

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

. Verständig married the journalist and Congress politician Benegal Shiva Rao in 1929 and became Kitty Shiva Rao. Her friends included

Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti ( ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian Philosophy, philosopher, speaker, writer, and Spirituality, spiritual figure. Adopted by members of the Theosophy, Theosophical tradition as a child, he was raised to fill ...

, who had been taught by her husband and theosophists. In 1931, like other new educationists, she travelled to Germany and visited schools such as the

Odenwaldschule The Odenwaldschule was a German school located in Heppenheim in the Odenwald. Founded in 1910, it was Germany's oldest '' Landerziehungsheim'', a private boarding school located in a rural setting. Edith and Paul Geheeb established it using t ...

of Paul Geheeb, to update on developments in education. After

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

, she helped Herbatschek, who had by then married Rudolf Braun, escape to India. Her connections allowed her to assist other Jews fleeing persecution to settle in India.

1940s-50s

Shiva Rao studied child education in depth and served on several education boards and committees, including the

Board and the All-India Education Fund Association. She was highly critical of authoritarian types of teaching and believed that the needs of children should be identified and met, along with better laws for women. Shiva Rao became involved in the Indian women's movement, and joined the

(AIWC), taking the lead for the Social and Legislation Section at the conferences in 1941 and 1945, and endorsed their view "that the position of women in any state or society was an indication of the degree of its civilisation." With Shiva Rao as lead, the AIWC was able to have access to the Rau committee, chaired by her brother-in-law and appointed in 1941 by the government to examine issues in Hindu law pertaining to women's inheritance. By 1946, she had become an important member of the AIWC, which made decisions that could be ratified by then new

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

and which revealed contradictions in the proposed

Hindu code bills The Hindu code bills were several laws passed in the 1950s that aimed to codify and reform Hindu personal law in India, abolishing religious law in favor of a common law code. The Indian National Congress government led by Prime Minister Jawaha ...

. In creating the Hindu code bills, after agreeing that men and women should have equal rights, the AIWC questioned why a debate was needed on whether a daughter could inherit equally with her brother. Shiva Rao was appointed head of a committee to work out what Indian women expected from the new

. By India's independence, she had led women to draft an '' Indian Women's Charter of Rights and Duties'' for the new constitution. Other members included

Lakshmi N. Menon Lakshmi N. Menon (29 March 1899 – 30 November 1994) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. She was Minister of State from 1962 to 1966. As delegate she held a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 at the ad ...

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903 – 29 October 1988) was an Indian social reformer. She has worked for the promotion of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India to uplift the socio-economic standard of Indian women ...

Renuka Ray Renuka Ray (4 January 1904 – 11 April 1997) was a noted freedom-fighter, social activist and politician of India. She was a descendant of Brahmo reformer, Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee, and daughter of Satish Chandra Mukherjee, an ICS officer ...

and Hannah Sen. Along with Fori Nehru and Prem Bery, she helped set up an employment campaign, 'Refugee Handicrafts', for refugee women in the 1947 Delhi camps following partition. After 1947 she pioneered the Indian Council for Child Welfare. In July 1948, Shiva Rao reported that the AIWC was urging a swift passing of the

by lobbying ministers and the prime minister. It was generally understood by the AIWC that public campaigns were not enough to make change for women's rights; women were reported to object to the Hindu code bill in public, but secretly revealed that that was really the view of their households. In 1949, she said to members of the AIWC "that unless you make an effort and urge on the member of the legislature representing your town or province the urgency of taking up this measure and asking him for his support, it will be difficult to get the Code through ... I am requesting you to write without delay to the member presenting you and urge on him that he should support this measure". In 1952, she co-founded a national programme for the development of handicrafts and handloom products. She also became vice president of the

. The Indian artist

Anjolie Ela Menon Anjolie Ela Menon (born 17 July 1940) is one of India's leading contemporary artists. Her paintings are in several major collections, including the NGMA, the Chandigarh Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. In 2006, her triptych work "Yatra" w ...

recalled that post independence, Shiva Rao was one of a small group of women "who took it upon themselves to preserve and develop handicrafts and the handloom industry, without any renumeration". Later in her life, she spent time in the US when her husband was posted to work with the United Nations. There she continued promoting Indian made crafts along with Fori Nehru.

Death

She died on February 9, 1980, in

Bangalore, India Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Early life

Career

1920s-30s

1940s-50s

Death

Publications

References

Further reading